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AssigneesKionix, Inc., Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsScott G. Adams, Kevin A. Shaw, Russell Y. Webb, Bryan W. Reed, Noel C. MacDonald, Timothy J. Davis
Estimating the term…
An isolation process which enhances the performance of silicon micromechanical devices incorporates dielectric isolation segments within the silicon microstructure, which is otherwise composed of an interconnected grid of cantilevered beams. A metal layer on top of the beams provides interconnects and also allows contact to the silicon beams, electrically activating the device for motion or transduction. Multiple conduction paths are incorporated through a metal patterning step prior to structure definition. The invention improves manufacturability of previous processes by performing all lithographic patterning steps on flat topographies, and removing complicated metal sputtering steps required of most high aspect ratio processes. With little modification, the invention can be implemented with integrated circuit fabrication sequences for fully integrated devices.
A micromechanical structure comprising:
A multi-level interconnect for a micromechanical device comprising:
A released micromechanical beam cantilevered from a mesa and electrically insulated from said mesa by an isolation segment, transverse to and integral with said beam, extending beyond the sides and bottom of said beam.
A micromechanical device comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.